Law & Public Policy Blog

Dr. Lynsey A. Madison, JD Anticipated May 2027, Law & Public Policy Scholar Taylor Swift is a lot of things to a lot of people. To consumers tired of hidden fees raising prices at checkout, she’s their knight in a sparkling leotard. What started as frustrations for “Swifties” trying to buy tickets to her concerts has turned into a bipartisan referendum on so called “junk fees.” What exactly are junk fees? Junk fees are extra and often unexpected fees consumers …

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Shaw Coneybeare, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law & Public Policy Scholar Most Americans, whether they support universal healthcare or not, would agree that healthcare is too expensive. Healthcare policy is generally understood as a three-legged stool of access, benefits, and cost. Policymakers have been discussing and debating access and benefits for decades now; however, the cost of healthcare has inflated so much that it’s undercutting the other two legs of healthcare policy.   Today, the United States has the most …

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Carolyn Messer, JD Anticipated May 2024 Climate change is an issue that impacts every region on the planet, and Pennsylvania is no exception. Temperatures in the state have increased by almost two degrees Fahrenheit in the last century, and they’re expected to increase another 5.9 degrees by 2050. These rapidly increasing temperatures have led to corresponding increases in rates of insect-borne illnesses like West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease. Rising instances of severe storms and floods driven by climate change …

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Alex Suarez, JD Anticipated May 2025, Law & Public Policy Scholar Freelancers are a distinct subcategory of independent contractors who operate on a project-by-project basis, providing specialized services to clients without long-term commitments. Unlike traditional independent contractors, who typically work for a single employer who has control over where and how they work and are provided with recurrent jobs, freelancers work on multiple, specialized projects on their own. As a result, many freelancers face challenges such as delayed or non-payment …

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Hanna Pfeiffer, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law & Public Policy Scholar The shipping sector accounts for 2–3% of global carbon emissions or about 1,076 million metric tons of CO2 annually. To put it into perspective, this is roughly equivalent to Japan’s yearly carbon emissions. CO2 is not the only worrying emission that comes from large merchant ships. With massive engines that can burn fuel at high temperatures, large ships use the cheapest, dirtiest fuel from an oil refinery: fuel oil. …

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Sam Weber, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law & Public Policy Scholar Think young climate activist and Greta Thunberg’s stern face likely comes to mind. The earnest young Swede has certainly received the most international press coverage for her climate change advocacy. In the past few years, though, a growing number of kids in the United States have been joining the ranks of young advocates for a more sustainable future, and they’re increasingly turning to the courts for solutions. While climate …

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Bri Murphy, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law & Public Policy Scholar Since 1965, the Law & Society Association (LSA) has hosted over 2,500 participants from more than 60 countries across 6 continents at its annual meeting and conference. The Temple University Beasley School of Law’s Law & Public Policy program has been well represented at LSA conferences since 2013. A total of twenty Law & Public Policy (L&PP) Scholars represented the program and Temple Law at the 2023 conference, presenting …

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Eric Rosario, JD Anticipated May 2024 The Modern American Homeless—A Bindle Full of Stereotypes   “The homeless” in America are as diverse as they are stereotyped. We’ve all seen images of young children or grown men carrying the anachronistic bindlestick, immortalized in famous and influential works such as The Runaway by Norman Rockwell. We’ve all cried to stories of the single parent who is working at an unpaid job in hopes that they’ll make a better life for their child …

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Ellie Holzman, JD Anticipated May 2023, Law & Public Policy Scholar There are currently over 385 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced at the state level across the country. Ninety of these bills would prevent transgender youth from accessing age-appropriate gender affirming care, two of which have already become law. These proposed laws also target drag performances, bathroom access, and place limits on classroom curriculums pertaining to LGBTQ+ history. These bills represent a larger movement against the LGBTQ+ community across …

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Juliana Peluso, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law & Public Policy Scholar  In 1952, former Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist—then a law clerk to Justice Robert H. Jackson—prepared a memorandum titled “A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases” in anticipation of the Court’s deliberation on school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. In it, then-clerk Rehnquist rejected the federal judiciary’s involvement in “emotionally charged subject matter,” particularly with regard to issues entailing “relations between the individual and the …

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